'Last Of The Mississippi Jukes' Soundtrack, DVD Due

25-Feb-03

""Last of the Mississippi Jukes,"" filmmaker Robert Mugge's documentary tribute to the Magnolia State's blues and juke joints, will be released on DVD next month via Sanctuary. Concurrent with the March 18 release, the label will also issue a 14-track soundtrack with music featured in the film, including songs by the likes of Alvin Youngblood Hart, Bobby Rush, and Chris Thomas King. Premiered earlier this month on the Black Starz! cable network, ""Last of the Mississippi Jukes"" is a musical history of rural lounge rooms that fostered the maturation of the blues. Among the Mississippi sites profiled is actor Morgan Freeman's recreation of the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, and Jackson's first black-owned hotel, which houses the still-thriving Subway Lounge.In its heyday, the Subway featured such legendary musicians as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin. Both Freeman and Subway founder Jimmy King appear in the film, as do blues historians Dick Waterman and Steve Cheseborough.Also featured is King, who is best known for his role in and music from the film ""O Brother, Where Art Thou?"" That film's ""John Law Burned Down the Liquor Sto'"" is also included in ""Juke Joints"" and on the soundtrack. Other notable cuts are Rush's ""Garbage Man,"" Hart's ""Joe Friday,"" featuring Sam Carr and Anthony Sherrod, and Dennis Fountain and Pat Brown's ""The Blues Is Alright"" with Jesse Robinson.The DVD will feature 5.1 SurroundSound and 5.1 DTS, as well performances by the Deep Cuts, Abdul Rasheed and the House Rockers, and Levon Lindsay with the King Edward Blues Band that are not in included in the film. Other DVD bonus features include additional interview segments with Freeman, King, and Waterman, a photo gallery, and a lascivious blues harp demonstration from Rush.